Meet The BUZZ Team: Know Your Writers

Dave Golder

Where else you can see my work:MyM Magazine, SFX magazine, a couple of those books you never see anywhere except in art gallery gift shops.

Favourite films:West Side Story, Vertigo, Rear Window, John Carpenter’s The Thing, The Skin I Live In, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Dark Crystal.

Favourite Harry Potter film (because I think you can tell a lot about someone from their favourite Harry Potter film): The Goblet Of Fire

Favourite TV shows:Doctor Who, Line Of Duty, The Prisoner, Person Of Interest, Angel, Misfits, Michael Palin’s Around The World In 80 Days, QI, Life On Mars/Ashes To Ashes.

Favourite books:Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Stephen King’s It (except the ending – I make up my own), The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness, all John Wyndham, The Wasp Factory.

Favourite anime:Ghost In The Shell, Patema Inverted

Favourite Video Game:Parasol Stars

My favourite article of my own on the site: Any review of The Flash – I really enjoy reviewing that show.

Character I’d like to cosplay: Toothless. Though I did once try to do a tribute to the Doctor Who episode “Flatline”.

Kimberly Rust (aka Kpopkimi)

What I do: I am the Japanese and Korean culture representative, where I travel around the world hosting interviews, attending concerts and events, reviewing products which end up on the Asia Zone section of the website.

Where else we can see your work: MyM magazine, but i also work closely with many companies who bring K-pop or Korean concerts and events to Europe – so if you look hard enough, you may see me around.

Favourite videogames: Im a Blizzard nerd so… World Of Warcraft, Starcraft, Heroes Of The Storm, Overwatch and Hearthstone. I am also a big fan of Steam games and indie games, but should I get back into my console games I’m sure I’ll re-visit some of my favourites such as the Fatal Frame (Project Zero) series, Kingdom Hearts, Shadow Of The Colossus, Ico, Journey and any other arty-farty or horror games that get my interest.

My favourite article of my own on the site:My interview with K-pop boy group Bangtan Boys (BTS) – It was my first true big-name interview, and my first face-to-face interview with a group I alreadyadmired. After that experience, it made me realise this is what I loved doing, and after seeing the reaction of fans and people who didn’t have any knowledge of the group or the Korean culture, I realised I had a niche market I could report on.

Character I’d like to cosplay: I have cosplayed many different characters from games, TV, film and animation but I do still have some ultimate ones I want to do such as: Howl’s Moving Castle (as in the castle!), the Mannequin monster from the second Silent Hill movie, Stitches from World Of Warcraft, Winston from Overwatch and, of course, I’d love to do more zombies.

Sam Halford

What I do: Reviews, interviews.

Where else you can see my work: MyM Magazine

Favourite film: Will always be Spirited Away, but Watchmen comes in at a close 2nd

Favourite TV shows: I have a soft spot for smart comedies like Arrested Development and Community. However what keeps coming to the top of my mind is Daredevil. It’s new but flat-out won me over. I think it may be the best comic book-based anything to date.

Favourite books: For novelisation it has to be The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Douglas Adams was a master of comedic writing and creativity. Though I also love The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I think comic books also deserves a shout-out and I love reading the Captain Britain books. All the problems of the Marvel universe seem to fall in America but Captain Britain has saved the world many times.

Favourite anime:Bleach was the first ever non-children anime I ever saw and I still really enjoy it. The characters are fun, the action is great, I could still happily watch the non-filler seasons any day.

My favourite article of my own on the site: My Cecil Baldwin Interview – I’m a huge fan of Welcome To Night Vale and it was fantastic to get to know the voice behind the whole thing.

Character I’d like to cosplay: Baymax from Big Hero 6, although I admit it would be awkward getting through crowds in a balloon suit.

Roxy Simons

What I do: I interview Japanese musicians, write features on events in London, and also write TV and film reviews.

Where else we can see your work: MyM magazine

Favourite films:The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, Back To The Future trilogy, the Rurouni Kenshin trilogy, Fight Club, Only Lovers Left Alive, Untouchable, The Grand Budapest Hotel, (500) Days of Summer, Forever Love (Taiwanese), Dead Poets Society, Seven Days part one and two (Japanese), Slum-Polis (Japanese), The Great Dictator, Modern Times. Also anything with Ben Whishaw in it, but especially Paddington, Lilting and Perfume.

Favourite TV shows:Breaking Bad, Sherlock, House Of Cards, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Hour, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Agent Carter, Life On Mars, American Horror Story, Orphan Black, Orange Is The New Black, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Fargo, London Spy, and the first series’ of Dexter and Heroes.

Favourite books:The Shadow Of The Wind, Good Omens, The Master And Margarita, Never Let Me Go, Any Human Heart, Christopher And His Kind, Sherlock Holmes, One Day, Frankenstein, Nineteen Eighty-Four, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, The Picture Of Dorian Gray, The Devotion Of Suspect X, The Little Prince, Rurouni Kenshin, Shaman King, Bakuman, Black Butler, Fruits Basket, One Punch Man and Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge.

Character I’d like to cosplay: Yamatonokami Yasusada from Touken Ranbu. If not him then Himura Kenshin or Seta Sojiro from Rurouni Kenshin (I love samurai, if that wasn’t obvious already).

Shalimar Sahota

What I do: Sub-editing, film reviews, cosplay interviews.Where else we can see your work: Box Office Prophets.Favourite films: Last three films viewed worthy of a 10 out of 10 – WALL-E, Oldboy, Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain.Favourite TV shows: I don’t have one.Favourite books:Alice in Wonderland.Favourite Anime:3×3 Eyes, Sailor Moon.My favourite article of my own on the site: It hasn’t been written… yet.

Iain Hepburn

What I do: Review episodes of TV shows. And Houdini & Doyle.

Where else can we see your work: I host a podcast (critically acclaimed by the Observer no less) called From The Sublime, which lives at fromthesublime.com. I also present a weekly radio show in Manchester for Northern Quarter Radio, and do the odd bit of writing for TheSpoilist.com.

Stephanie-Louise Patrick

What I do: I mostly do recent to new released anime reviews which can differ to genres and styles.

Where else can we see your work: I mostly do reviews for MYM but I do, do digital art requests upon my own page on DeviantArt. (“Pandora Blackshadow”). Also, I write my own stories upon Wattpad! My name is “xslhp16x”.

Favourite films: My all-time favourite films have to be the IP Man series, Star Trek (2012) and Star Trek Into Darkness, Now You See Me, 47 Ronin, Rounin Kenshin and Band Of Brothers.

Favourite TV shows:Firefly, NCIS, CSI (all of them), Bones, The Mentalist, House, Once Upon A Time, Lie To Me and The Walking Dead.

Favourite Books: The Indigo collection, Trudi Canavan (The Novice and The Magicians’ Guild), the Young Samurai series, A House Of Night series, Graceling.

Character I’d like to cosplay: I’d like to cosplay as Utau Hoshino again but I’d also like to cosplay as my own original character Pandora as well.

Matt Chapman

What I do: I edit MyM Magazine and I write news, reviews and interviews for the site.

Where else we can see your work:MyM magazine

Favourite films:Nikita, The Matrix, Jaws

Favourite TV shows:State Of Play, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Heroes season one, Life On Mars

Favourite books:Watchmen, The Dice Man, DC: The New Frontier

Favourite Anime:Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Akira

Favourite videogames:Tetris, Portal, The Legend of Zelda

My favourite article of my own on the site: Zombie Boot Camp review

Character I’d like to cosplay: Optimus Prime

Jess Anson

What I do: I write TV reviews! Mostly of the sci-fi and fantasy genres. So far I’ve helped cover The Shannara Chronicles, The Aliens and Supernatural and I’m looking forward to whatever’s next.

Favourite films: I’ve recently been thrown back into Star Wars in a big way. Dare I admit I’m even a fan of the prequels? And at the complete opposite end of the scale, Lost In Translation for when I’m feeling nostalgic for Japan.

Favourite TV shows:Supernatural tops my list for sure. Then it’s a combination of a whole host of stuff: Arrested Development, Life On Mars, Sense8, Sherlock, Community… just depends on the day!

Favourite books:Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Anything by those two, to be honest! And more recently, the Star Wars novelisations.

Favourite Anime: I’ve always had a soft spot for The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya. FLCL as well ’cuz it’s so bonkers.

Character I’d like to cosplay: I cosplay pretty often, actually! Normally I can be found at conventions in my Castiel or Scarlet Witch costumes, but I’ve recently come into possession of an Obi-Wan Kenobi outfit, so that’ll be in rotation too.

Alasdair Stuart

What I do: I write TV reviews. Usually anything with “Walking Dead” in the title and Gotham. I also step in on Agents Of SHIELD from time to time and do the odd feature.

Where else we can see your work: I write for tor.com, blog at alasdairstuart.com and own Escape Artists, who produce four podcasts and one magazine. The podcasts all feature weekly short stories including:

Escape Pod: Science Fiction

Psuedopod: Horror

Podcastle: Fantasy

Cast of Wonders: YA fiction

As well as digital magazine Mothership Zeta whose third issue is just out! I’m also an RPG writer and most recently did the Tenth Doctor sourcebook for the Doctor Who RPG. That was really fun. Even Voyage Of The Damned…#

Character I’d like to cosplay: AD Walter Skinner from The X-Files. I’d just need a haircut and a suit.

Jayne Nelson

What I do: TV reviews, film reviews, features

Where else we can see your work: I used to work for SFX full-time before skipping off to London to work on Total Film, and then I went freelance. Since then I’ve done everything from editing ODEON magazine to popping up on TV as a talking head (most recently on Sky’s Star Wars Greatest Moments documentary). I was a contributor to Sci-Fi Chronicles and also write for MyM magazine, SFX magazine, ODEON magazine, many Titan magazines (everything from the sadly defunct Official Supernatural Magazine to the recent Batman V Superman official mag) and more. I also sub-edit on titles from men’s fitness mags to Metal Hammer, and read submissions for Tor Books on a freelance basis.

Favourite books:The Lord Of The Rings by JRR Tolkien; Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell (now there’s a contrast!). Also partial to old-school sci-fi like Clarke’s Childhood’s End, the works of Harlan Ellison and, recently, a surprising amount of Icelandic/Scandinavian classics… I’m working my way up to the sagas!

Ned Newberry

What I do: TV reviews – I’m doing 11.22.63 right now, which is a good show you should watch it.

Where else we can see your work: I did some videos over at Nerd Uniter, which are all about nerdy stuff.

Favourite films: Really tough question, the obvious answer is always Empire Strikes Back but more recently The Big Short or on rainy days, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Favourite TV shows: The Walking Dead, Game Of Thrones, Batman: The Animated Series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend Of Korra, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, House Of Cards, Community, Parks & Rec, Firefly and 11.22.63.

Favourite books:The 39 Steps, Greenmantle, The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Goldfinger, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Superman: Birthright, Masters Of Doom, Ready Player One, A Song Of Ice And Fire.